Inside Presence Helps Boomers to Asia Cup Semis

The Australian Boomers are now one game away from a second straight FIBA Asia Cup final with their front court dominant to hold off a hot-shooting Japan for the 99-85 quarter-final win on Thursday night.

Australia are the defending Asia Cup champions and went through the group phase in Indonesia emphatically beating Jordan, Saudia Arabia and then the host nation.

That led into Thursday night's cut-throat quarter-final in Jakarta and while Japan was hurt by the absence of Toronto Raptors NBA swingman Yuta Watanabe, they still possessed enough talent to cause the Boomers some worry.

In the end, it was Sam Froling that helped put Australia on top early as they raced to a 15-3 lead with the Illawarra Hawks big man setting the tone before Thon Maker joined him to ensure the Boomers dominated down low.

For much of the rest of the evening the Boomers were able to hold that double-figure lead. There were a couple of moments where Japan's three-point shooting threatened to give them a sniff including a near half-court bomb late from Keisei Tominaga, but Australia had all the answers.

Japan might have knocked down 20/43 from three-point range with Tominaga finishing with 33 points and going 8/15 from downtown, but they had no answers for the inside presence and overall size and poise under pressure shown by Australia.

The Boomers pulled down 51 rebounds for the night to Japan's 29 including 16 offensive boards to five which led to 17 second chance points to eight. Australia also had 36 points in the paint to 14 to lead by as much as 21 and to end up winning by 14.

The frontcourt pairing for the Boomers of Sam Froling (15 points, six rebounds) and Thon Maker (21 points, 13 boards, five assists) was outstanding with Rhys Vague continuing his terrific Asia Cup campaign up against many of the same players from Japan he plays with or against in the B-League.

Vague finished with 19 points while hitting 5/6 from three-point land with Keanu Pinder adding nine points on 4/6 shooting, Mitch McCarron seven points, nine assists and seven rebounds, and Tyrese Proctor seven points, four boards and three assists.

Fellow young gun Alex Ducas also had six points and two rebounds, Will McDowell-White six points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals, Wani Swaka Lo Buluk five points, and Sam McDaniel four points.

Sam Froling gave the Boomers a perfect start connecting on a three ball before the defending champions blew the game wide open with 12 straight points including a three-point play from Thon Maker and triple from Mitch McCarron to put them up 15-3.

Rhys Vague and Will McDowell-White then hit the floor to knock down three-pointers as well and then Tyrese Proctor hit from deep as well with McDowell-White adding another.

Australia went on to nail 6/10 from downtown in the first quarter to lead 33-22 by the end of one with Froling delivering nine points on 4/5 shooting and Maker seven points, six rebounds and three assists.

Japan opened up the second term with an and-one to Keisei Tominaga and triple to Hirotaka Yoshii but Australia quickly responded with another 11-0 run that started with a couple of nice finishes from Froling, and ended with three-pointer from Proctor.

A McCarron three ball just before half-time saw the Australian lead grow to 15 points at the break on the back of 12 offensive rebounds to two for 15 second chance points to three and 20 points in the paint to four with Froling putting up 15 points.

Every time Japan threatened a fightback in the third quarter the Boomers would have the answers including three balls to West Australian pair Vague and Alex Ducas. 

Reigning NBL Most Improved Player Keanu Pinder then hit from deep to start a 9-0 run of which he scored seven points himself and then new Illawarra Hawks signing Wani Swaka Lo Buluk scored five quick points to help Australia lead 75-54 by three quarter-time.

Japan weren’t ready to give up the ghost, though, and they kept shooting from long-range. Yuki Togashi hit a couple in-a-row to make it a 15-point ball game, and then when Tominaga hit another and Yutaroh Duda added another the margin was back to 12.

Once again, it was three-pointers from Vague and Ducas that steadied the Boomers and then a thunderous one-handed throwdown from Maker stretched the lead out to 17 points with five minutes to play.

Japan still weren’t going to die wondering and Tominaga hit a stunning near half-court shot and then Soichiro Inoue added another to bring the margin to single-figures.

Again Australia had the answers by going inside and getting to the foul line before Vague sealed the deal with another three on the way to the 14-point win.

The Boomers will now advance to the semi finals against New Zealand on Saturday night at 8.30pm AEST. 

The Tall Black booked their semi-final berth with their 88-78 quarter-final victory against Korea.

That saw Flynn Cameron put up 22 points, nine rebounds and eight assists with Takiula Fahrensohn adding 16 points and seven boards, Tohi Smith-Milner 14 points, five boards and three assists,, and Taine Murray nine points and six rebounds.

FIBA ASIA CUP 2022 – QUARTER FINALS

AUSTRALIAN BOOMERS 99 (Maker 21, Vague 19, Froling 15)

JAPAN 85 (Tominaga 33, Togashi 14, Inoue 11)

BOX SCORE